81st Academy Awards


The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and was produced by Bill Condon and Laurence Mark and directed by Roger Goodman. Actor Hugh Jackman hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on February 7, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jessica Biel.
Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards, the most of the evening, including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle. Other winners were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with three awards, The Dark Knight and Milk with two awards, and Departures, The Duchess, La Maison en Petits Cubes, Man on Wire, The Reader, Smile Pinki, Toyland, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and WALL-E with one. The telecast garnered almost 37 million viewers in the United States.

Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2009, at 5:38 p.m. PST at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Sid Ganis, president of the Academy, and the actor Forest Whitaker. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button received the most nominations with thirteen ; Slumdog Millionaire came in second with ten.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 22, 2009. Slumdog Millionaire was the eleventh film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations. Sean Penn became the ninth person to win Best Lead Actor twice. Best Supporting Actor winner Heath Ledger became the second performer to win a posthumous acting Oscar. The first actor to receive this distinction was Peter Finch who posthumously won Best Actor for Network two months after his death in January 1977. With its six nominations, WALL-E tied with 1991's Beauty and the Beast as the most nominated animated film in Oscar history.

Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger.

  • Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
  • * David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  • * Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
  • * Gus Van Sant – Milk
  • * Stephen Daldry – The Reader
  • Sean Penn – Milk as Harvey Milk
  • * Richard Jenkins – The Visitor as Walter Vale
  • * Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon
  • * Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button
  • * Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler as Randy "The Ram" Robinson
  • Kate Winslet – The Reader as Hanna Schmitz
  • * Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married as Kym Buchman
  • * Angelina Jolie – Changeling as Christine Collins
  • * Melissa Leo – Frozen River as Ray Eddy
  • * Meryl Streep – Doubt as Sister Aloysius Beauvier
  • Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight as The Joker
  • * Josh Brolin – Milk as Dan White
  • * Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder as Kirk Lazarus
  • * Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt as Father Brendan Flynn
  • * Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road as John Givings Jr.
  • Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona as María Elena
  • * Amy Adams – Doubt as Sister James
  • * Viola Davis – Doubt as Mrs. Miller
  • * Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Queenie
  • * Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler as Cassidy/Pam
  • Milk – Dustin Lance Black
  • * Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
  • * Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
  • * In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
  • * WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
  • Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • * Doubt – John Patrick Shanley based on
  • * Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan based on his stage play
  • * The Reader – David Hare based on the novel Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink
  • WALL-E – Andrew Stanton
  • * Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
  • * Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson
  • Departures in Japanese – Yōjirō Takita
  • * The Baader Meinhof Complex in German – Uli Edel
  • * The Class in French – Laurent Cantet
  • * Revanche in German – Götz Spielmann
  • * Waltz with Bashir in Hebrew – Ari Folman
  • Man on Wire – James Marsh and Simon Chinn
  • * The Betrayal – Nerakhoon – Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
  • * Encounters at the End of the World – Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
  • * The Garden – Scott Hamilton Kennedy
  • * Trouble the Water – Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
  • Smile Pinki – Megan Mylan
  • * The Conscience of Nhem En – Steven Okazaki
  • * The Final Inch – Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
  • * ' – Adam Pertovsky and Margaret Hyde
  • Toyland — Jochen Alexander Freydank
  • * Manon on the Asphalt — Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
  • * New Boy — Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
  • * On the Line — Reto Caffi
  • * The Pig — Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
  • La Maison en Petits Cubes – Kunio Katō
  • * Lavatory – Lovestory – Konstantin Bronzit
  • * Oktapodi – Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
  • * Presto – Doug Sweetland
  • * This Way Up – Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
  • Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
  • * Defiance – James Newton Howard
  • * Milk – Danny Elfman
  • * WALL-E – Thomas Newman
  • "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – Music by A. R. Rahman; Lyrics by Gulzar
  • * "Down to Earth" from WALL-E – Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; Lyrics by Peter Gabriel
  • * "O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire – Music and Lyrics by A. R. Rahman and M.I.A.
  • The Dark Knight – Richard King
  • * Iron Man – Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
  • * Slumdog Millionaire – Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
  • * WALL-E – Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
  • * Wanted – Wylie
  • Slumdog Millionaire – Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
  • * The Dark Knight – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
  • * WALL-E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
  • * Wanted – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
  • * Changeling – Art Direction: James J. Murakami; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
  • * The Dark Knight – Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Peter Lando
  • * The Duchess – Art Direction: Michael Carlin; Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
  • * Revolutionary Road – Art Direction: Kristi Zea; Set Decoration: Debra Schutt
  • Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle
  • * Changeling – Tom Stern
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda
  • * The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister
  • * The Reader – Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom
  • * The Dark Knight – John Caglione Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
  • * ' – Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
  • The Duchess – Michael O'Connor
  • * Australia – Catherine Martin
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jacqueline West
  • * Milk – Danny Glicker
  • * Revolutionary Road – Albert Wolsky
  • Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens
  • * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
  • * The Dark Knight – Lee Smith
  • * Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill and Daniel P. Hanley
  • * Milk – Elliot Graham
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
  • * The Dark Knight – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
  • * Iron Man – John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

    • Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

  • Jerry Lewis

    Films with multiple nominations and awards

    • The following 15 films received multiple nominations:
    NominationsFilm
    13The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
    10Slumdog Millionaire
    8The Dark Knight
    8Milk
    6WALL-E
    5Doubt
    5Frost/Nixon
    5The Reader
    3Changeling
    3Revolutionary Road
    2The Wrestler
    2The Duchess
    2Frozen River
    2Iron Man
    2Wanted

    The following four films received multiple awards:
    AwardsFilm
    8Slumdog Millionaire
    3The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
    2The Dark Knight
    2Milk

    Presenters and performers

    The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.

    Presenters

    Performers

    Ceremony information

    Due to the declining viewership of the recent Academy Awards ceremonies, AMPAS had contracted an entirely new production team in an attempt to revive interest surrounding both the awards and festivities. In September 2008, the Academy selected producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark to co-produce the telecast. Nearly three months later, actor Hugh Jackman, who had previously emceed three consecutive Tony Awards ceremonies between 2003 and 2005, was chosen as host of the 2009 gala. Jackman expressed his anticipation of the awards in the few days preceding, and had commented that he was thrilled with preparations for the ceremony.
    Notable changes were introduced in the production of the telecast. In an attempt to build suspense and curiosity leading up to the awards, Condon and Mark announced that they would not reveal any of the presenters or performers who would participate in the Oscarcast. Another unique feature of the ceremony was that the orchestra performed onstage instead of being relegated to a pit. In a break from previous presentations, five previous Oscar-winning performers presented each of the acting categories as opposed to only one or two. In addition, the Academy announced that for the first time since Oscar began broadcasting on television, film studios would be able to televise advertisements promoting their upcoming films. Furthermore, a montage of upcoming 2009 films was shown over the ceremony's closing credits.
    Several other people participated in the production of the ceremony. Chris Harrison hosted "Road to the Oscars", a weekly behind-the-scenes video blog on the Oscar ceremony website. David Rockwell designed a new set and stage design for the ceremony. Film historian and author Robert Osborne greeted guests entering the festivities at the Hollywood and Highland Center. Film director Judd Apatow filmed a comedy montage which featured Seth Rogen and James Franco reprising their roles from Pineapple Express. Director Baz Luhrmann produced a song and dance number saluting movie musicals.
    Peter Gabriel, who was originally scheduled to perform his nominated song "Down to Earth" from WALL-E during the live broadcast, declined to perform after learning that he would be allowed to sing only 65 seconds of the song during the ceremony's Best Original Song nominee performances. Gabriel still attended the ceremony but singer John Legend, backed by the Soweto Gospel Choir, performed the song in place of Gabriel.

    Box office performance of nominated films

    Continuing a trend in recent years, the field of major nominees favored independent, low-budget films over blockbusters. However, one of the nominees for Best Picture had grossed over $100 million before the nominations were announced. The combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees when the Oscars were announced was $188 million with an average gross of $37.7 million per film.
    The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $104.4 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Frost/Nixon, and finally The Reader. Among the rest of the top 50 releases of 2008 in U.S. box office before the nominations, 33 nominations went to nine films on the list. Only The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, Bolt, Tropic Thunder, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button were nominated for directing, acting, screenwriting, Best Picture or Animated Feature. The other top-50 box office hits that earned nominations were Iron Man, Wanted, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

    Faked winners leak

    Shortly after the voting polls were closed for the awards, a purported list of winners was posted online. The list, which bore a purported signature from Academy president Sid Ganis, stated that Mickey Rourke won for Best Actor, Kate Winslet won for Best Actress, Amy Adams won for Best Supporting Actress, Heath Ledger won for Best Supporting Actor, and Slumdog Millionaire won for Best Picture. AMPAS spokeswoman Leslie Unger later revealed that the list was "a complete fraud", and that PricewaterhouseCoopers had just begun to count the ballots.

    Critical reviews

    The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Some media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Television critic Robert Bianco of USA Today gave Jackman an average review but extolled producers Condon and Mark saying that the broadcast felt "faster and more intimate without sacrificing Hollywood glamour." Vanity Fair columnist Julian Sancton gave high marks for Jackman's hosting performance stating "After several years of glamour-deflating wisecracks from blasé hosts like Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, and Steve Martin, the new producers hired an M.C. who was willing to break a sweat." Film critic Roger Ebert lauded Jackman's performance noting that he "would be a charmer as host, and he was." Of the show itself, Ebert added, "It was the best Oscar show I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty."
    Other media outlets were more critical of the show. Los Angeles Times columnist Mary McNamara was thought Jackman's performance "obliterated all memory" of David Letterman's hosting the ceremony in 1995, which was widely panned. Time television critic James Poniewozik wrote that Jackman was "charming and game and I bet he absolutely killed in the room. But he didn’t really project beyond the room, nor did he much seem to be trying to." He also noted that while there were some entertaining moments, "the broadcast overall had problems of pacing." Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune remarked, "The whole thing was driven by a manic desire to bring some old-school glamor to the proceedings." She added that the long introductions praising the acting nominees slowed down the proceedings.

    Ratings and reception

    The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 36.94 million people over its length, which was a 13% increase from the record lows of the previous year's ceremony. An estimated, 68.48 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony, with 20.88% of households watching over a 32.44 share. In addition, the program scored a 12.43 rating over a 30.61 share among the 18–49 demographic, which was a 13 percent increase.
    In July 2009, the ceremony presentation received ten nominations at the 61st Primetime Emmys. Two months later, the ceremony won four awards including Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Outstanding Short Form Picture Editing,, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Or Music Series Or Special.

    ''In Memoriam''

    The annual In Memoriam tribute was presented by actress Queen Latifah. She performed the song "I'll Be Seeing You" during the segment.